The Proposal Take Two
by msk1701
Summary: A collection of oneshots where we get the proposal we were all waiting for. JimPam. Spoilers for the finale.
1. Nonverbal Communication

**This is my first foray into this fandom so be nice!**

**And to my regular readers: Surprised? Hope this change doesn't turn anybody off. **

**Take a read and tell me what you think.**

* * *

Pam sat giddily in her lawn chair, watching as the fireworks that Jim paid for went off in the night sky.

Jim was going to propose any minute now.

Any minute now, he was going to turn to her and say those four magical words she'd been waiting to hear ever since he said that he was going to kick her ass.

Maybe he'd say her name first. Make it seven words instead of four and add a few more seconds to their moment. Just a bit more of this night for her to remember.

And as Darryl's band played the last strains of The Temptations' "Just My Imagination," Jim started shifting in his seat and his fingers began to play nervously across her thigh. She turned away from the fireworks to see Jim smiling widely at her.

She smiled back.

_Is this it?_

And as Jim took a deep breath, his own smile got wider in a game of smile-one-upmanship.

_Yeah. This is it._

Andy's voice cut through electricity around them however dragging their attention to him, as he spoke into the microphone, "Can I have your attention please? I was waiting for the right time to do this…"

Pam could only watch as Andy spoke-even introducing his parents to the group-and destroyed expensive equipment as he proposed to Angela.

Hearing Angela say "Okay," Pam turned her head to look at Jim, to get confirmation that this was indeed happening. That Angela had actually agreed to marry Andy.

But Jim wasn't looking at the (somewhat) happily engaged couple. He was looking down, disappointment clearly written across his face.

Eyes narrowing in curiosity, Pam followed his gaze to where his left hand lay on his lap, and what she saw made her breath hitch.

A black velvet box.

A box that could only hold one thing.

A box that-Jim was slowly moving towards his pocket.

Eyes widening in shock at what Jim was doing, Pam squeezed (more like pinched) the inside of his elbow to make him look at her.

Their eyes met and Pam shook her head with a stern look on her face.

_Oh no, you don't. I saw the box._

Caught, Jim had no choice but to bring his hand back up to show Pam what he had been about to hide. Her gaze flicked from the box back up to Jim's face, where his eyebrows were furrowed and he was biting his bottom lip. His sad eyes moved quickly from Angela and Andy and back to her.

_I hoped that that would be us right now._

Pam reached across to place her right hand on top of Jim's and used her left to cup his cheek. Her smile was reassuring and encouraging.

_Ask me._

_Now? Here?_

She nodded once.

_Yes._

Feeling better now, Jim smiled once again and opened the box with trembling hands to reveal a beautiful oval-cut diamond engagement ring of white gold. But Pam's gaze was firm on Jim's face as his expression turned slightly nervous.

_Will you marry me?_

Pam was nodding so hard that she was like one of Dwight's bobblehead dolls.

_Yes! Yes! Yes!_

Both of their hands shook as the ring was placed on her finger. And when it was, Pam wasted no time in throwing herself across the arm of her lawn chair to wrap her arms tightly around Jim's neck; mostly out of emotion, but also because she was afraid her chair would slip from under her and that she would end up on the asphalt.

Pam felt Jim grasp the metal tubing of her chair and pull on it to bring her closer to him and to make it much more stable before putting his arms around her once again.

Their faces inched closer together, and their lips met so that they could share their first kiss as an engaged couple.

_I love you._

_I love you too._

It seemed as if everyone was still too preoccupied with Angela and Andy to bother them about their PDA, but neither of them cared too much. Let someone else receive all the inappropriate comments and unwanted attention of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton for once.

This was their moment and no one else's.

They laced their fingers together, exchanging furtive smiles at the new sensation of the ring on Pam's finger, and turned to watch along with everyone else as Kelly tried to convince Angela that she would make the perfect bridesmaid.


	2. Andy

**So I played around with the "Mr. Andrew Bernard" scene a bit for this one. **

**Oh, Andy. If it wasn't for people like you, school would have been so boring.**

* * *

As Jim and Pam walked to where he'd moved his car to make room for the Ferris Wheel, the last thing he expected was Andy to come barreling into him to give him an over-enthusiastic hug as he faux-whispered: "I'm engaged!"

"I know!" Jim faux-whispered back. "That's awesome, man."

"Mr. Andrew Bernard. I like the sound of that."

Jim could only quirk his eyebrows at that. How the hell was someone supposed to respond to a comment as idiotic as that? What made it worse was that he knew that it wasn't the beers that made Andy make that mistake.

But Pam stepped in and saved him. "Congratulations on your engagement, Andy."

Following her lead, Jim smiled nervously and said, "Yeah. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Pam. Tuna."

Andy hugged him again, and Jim could feel the ring box digging into his thigh from the pressure of their bodies being pressed together. And just when he thought the night couldn't get any worse, Andy felt it too.

And in true Andy fashion, the man just had to comment on it.

"What's this, Tuna?" Andy asked playfully as he pressed just a little harder against Jim. "Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Jim tried to get out of the man's embrace, wiggling and trying to bring his arms away from his torso, but Andy's grip was too strong.

"Noooo. Doesn't feel like a roll of quarters, and it's the wrong shape to be that other thing…soooooo…let's see what you've got there, Big Tuna!

A hand snaked down and tried to make its way into Jim's pocket.

'_Oh dear God, please do not let this man make my night any worse than he's already done,'_ Jim silently prayed as he tried harder to get away from Andy, and once again it was Pam to the rescue.

"Why don't you go back to Angela and your parents?" she said loudly to get Andy's attention. "I know you have a lot of planning to do."

Andy, much to Jim's relief, stopped his assault and stepped back. "Oh yeah," he said, bringing a finger to his chin as he realized something. "The 'rents! They haven't met Angela yet!"

And he was off like a flash back to where the party was still going on.

Pam gave Jim a comforting smile and wrapped an arm around his waist to guide him to his car so that they could go home.

* * *

Jim parked his Saab in front of Pam's building and quickly hopped out to open her door for her. But as he made his way around the trunk, Jim realized that something felt off about his gait. He checked his pockets to make sure everything was still there, but…

The ring.

It was gone!

Jim stopped walking and did a 180 degree turn to carefully retrace his steps. Pam could only watch from her seat in the car as Jim slowly walked back to the driver side door, seemingly completely focused on his feet.

He opened the door but didn't get back in the car, instead turning on the interior light and getting to his knees on the asphalt so that he could get a close look at the floorboards.

Pam stayed in her seat, having done little besides undoing her seatbelt, and watched her boyfriend frantically search for something.

"Did you lose something?" she asked.

"No…" Jim's voice was strained as he worked his hand beneath his seat and felt around for several seconds. "Well, maybe."

"Oh God. Where is it?" he mumbled in desperation, not really caring anymore if Pam heard him. He had found the perfect ring, but now he lost it after all these weeks of teasing and hinting at proposing.

Damn himself and his own hubris.

Having exhausted all possible locations the ring box could have disappeared to in the car, Jim shifted his position so that he could crouch down and check beneath the car.

Pam leaned across the center console, leaning on the driver's seat to support her weight. "Jim? What are you doing?"

Jim didn't show any sign that he'd heard her, instead swearing under his breath as he kept on searching.

"Jim. You'll end up with gum in your hair."

Still no acknowledgement.

"Jim?"

This time, she raised her voice and called out more assertively: "Jim."

Jim popped back up to see what Pam wanted, but froze stock still while still on his knees on the street when he was that she was leaning towards him, supporting her weight with one hand on his seat and holding a familiar black box in the other.

He got up off the ground and back into the car. Pam sat back in her seat to make room for him and gave Jim the box when he reached for it.

"I found it back at the office park."

It had fallen to the ground as Jim struggled to get away from Andy's enthusiastic hands. Neither man had noticed as she bent down to pick it up and put it in her own pocket in a daze, realizing at that moment that Jim had indeed gone all out tonight for her, only to see Andy take advantage of his efforts instead.

"So…I guess Andy stole your moment, huh?"

"Uhm…Yeah." Jim didn't know what to say right now. All he could do was nervously drum his fingers on the steering wheel. "Yeah. He did."

"Listen, Pam…"

Pam held up her hand to silence Jim. "I know about the fireworks. I know that you arranged it all for me."

"Pam…"

She cut him off again, "Just ask me, Jim," and looked him straight in the eye.

Jim took a breath and opened the box so that Pam could see the ring he'd picked out for her.

"Pam…" This was it. No more joking. No more playing around. He was going to propose just like he said he would in his talking head earlier today.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

And her lips were on his as they kissed passionately under the yellow glow of the street lamps and the Saab's interior light.

* * *

"**The 'rents"**

**I got that from one of my old high school teachers.**


	3. Caught

**Poor Phyllis being traumatized like that in the finale.**

* * *

Jim leaned against his desk as he watched Pam look for her cell phone among the clutter on and around her own work area. They were the only two people in the dark office-illuminated only by their desk lamps-having come back up from Jim's car.

"_You know, Beesly…it would be a lot easier to find things if you cleaned those drawers out once in a while."_

"_Shut it, Halpert. There's a method to my madness."_

"_Or you could just admit that you're messy. That's always the first step to recovery."_

"_Shut up!"_

That was the sort of exchange that they'd have if things were alright between them, but things were weird right now. Ever since Andy's proposal earlier tonight, Jim had been acting off. Although Pam would also have to admit that she didn't feel like herself at the moment.

She had been so sure that he was going to propose at Toby's goodbye party. She'd seen Jim give Phyllis money and she saw the fireworks being set up.

She had been so sure that it was all for her. But maybe it was just another one of Jim's wind ups.

But if it was, she was still waiting for a "Gotcha" that was extremely slow in coming.

Still wondering what was going on in Jim's head, Pam found her phone in a bottom drawer. She put it back in her purse, stood up and switched off her desk lamp.

Jim looked up from where he had been studiously staring at his shoes when he noticed the light go out.

"I found my phone," Pam said. "Let's go."

He nodded dumbly, but just stayed where he was as Pam moved towards the door.

As he watched the love of his life walk away, the memory of his conversation with Michael earlier today played back in his mind.

They were here-just the two of them-in the office.

The place where they first met.

The place where they shared their first meal together.

Hell. He was standing at the exact same spot where they had their first kiss.

The office.

That's where he'd gone wrong.

He had been trying to do something big-something grand-when their relationship was defined by the quiet moments; the offhand comments that demonstrated the easy passion between them.

The office. This was where he was supposed to propose.

There was a symmetry that was completely appropriate for their relationship.

It had been here where their friendship was nearly destroyed, but now it was where they would begin

He was going to propose. Right here. Right now.

"Pam?" Jim called out. "Wait."

Pam turned back to see that Jim was still at his desk. She put her hands on her hips and asked, "What are you doing, Jim?"

But he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he closed the distance between them and took her hands in his, causing her purse to fall to the floor, to pull her back to his desk.

"I had everything planned out for tonight…but this," Jim smiled serenely, putting Pam's nerves at ease. "This is just perfect."

"What are you talking about?"

Jim turned them around so that Pam was now pressed up against his desk as he stood in front of her.

"Remember what happened the last time we were here. Like this?"

Pam nodded, swallowing hard at the memory. How could she not remember that night? It had signaled the beginning of the most difficult year of her life.

But now here she was, one year into a relationship with the man she had let go that night, only to find that their paths were forever intertwined.

Jim kept on talking. "I want to replace that with a happy memory. Will you let me do that?"

Pam nodded again and gasped as Jim took a step back and pulled a black box out of his pocket and snapped it open.

"Will you, Pamela Morgan Beesly-"

Jim stopped halfway through his proposal, having noticed that he forgot something, and got down to one knee with a sheepish smile.

Pam let out a snort of laughter and softly muttered "Dork," as Jim got into position.

"Pamela Morgan Beesly," Jim began again. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said breathily, letting her tears flow freely down her face as Jim (her fiancé, she noted with glee) slid the ring onto her left hand.

Jim stood up and Pam slid easily into his arms as they kissed for what seemed like ages before they parted for air. They stood there, holding each other and swaying to music that only they could hear when the sound of the door to the office opening surprised them.

Phyllis and a cameraman stood just beyond the open door. Phyllis just stood there staring, holding a box of stuff in her hands, while the cameraman zoomed in to better frame the shot that would boost the documentary's ratings.

Pam pressed her cheek against her fiancé's chest in semi-bashfulness and smiled widely for their audience. As she felt Jim's lips against the top of her head for the second time that night, Pam giggled and held out her hand for Phyllis and the camera to see.

"We're engaged!"

* * *

**So what did you guys think of my first attempts at Office fanfic? Did I get the characterizations right? **

**Tell me! Tell me!**


	4. Talking Heads

Jim:  
So I said that I was going to propose to Pam last night with the fireworks and everything…but things didn't go according to plan.

* * *

Pam dropped her coat and purse by the door, not really caring where they landed, as soon as she let Jim and herself into her apartment.

They had been quiet during the entire drive to her building, without even a hint of their usual banter. Jim had even considered driving home tonight, rather than spend the night at Pam's place, but the curious look she gave him through the window as he stayed in the car with the engine running made him get out and come upstairs.

* * *

Jim:  
But then again, since when do things go according to plan in this office, anyway?

Pam:  
So true. So true. Yeah. Somebody else got to use the moment you paid for...but that had a happy ending.

Jim:  
Yeah. Money well spent.

* * *

They were on the sofa.

Jim was leaning back and staring at the turned off TV as Pam lay down with her head in his lap. Their fingers were playing with each other and both were extremely conscious of the fact that Pam's finger was bare, although neither of them said anything about it.

Looking down, Jim saw that Pam was staring up at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought. He brought his other hand up to brush a few stray hairs off of Pam's forehead and her gaze flicked from the ceiling to his face.

"What going on in that head of yours?" he asked softly.

"Just thinking about Angela and Andy."

"What about them?"

"Nothing…I'm…just…happy for them. That's all."

She held her tears back, not wanting Jim to see how upset she was that it wasn't her that was being proposed to tonight, but he still saw the glistening in her eyes and heard the warble in her voice.

Looking at the sadness in his love's eyes made Jim more resolute in carrying out what he had planned to tonight.

He said he was going to propose and that's what he was going to do.

Jim lifted Pam's head off of his lap and got down to one knee on the floor between the sofa and the coffee table.

"Jim?" Pam asked as she lifted herself up, trying hard not to let her hopes up again. This was not the time for another fake proposal. "What are you doing?"

"Something I never should have waited to do."

He dug into his pocket and pulled out the box he had been carrying around for months.

He had to smile at the sound of Pam's gasp and the way her eyes widened at the sight of the ring before her.

"Pam?" She tore her eyes away from the ring and up to Jim's face. "Will you marry me?"

* * *

Pam:

_(Quickly brings up her left hand to show off her ring before bringing it back down again)  
_Jim asked me to marry me last night. And I said yes!

Jim:  
Yep. Mr. James Halpert. Kinda has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Pam:  
Not as nice as Mrs. James Halpert though. Right?

Jim:  
Definitely not.

Pam:

_(Flashing her ring one more time)  
_And it is a nice ring.

* * *

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Pam was squealing into Jim's ear and raining kisses onto his cheek as her arms wrapped like vises around his neck.

"Pam…I can't breathe."

"Oh. Sorry."

She loosened her hold just a bit before crashing her lips onto his. Jim returned the kiss with equal fervor and Pam twisted her body on the couch to better position herself for more heavy duty kissing.

Unfortunately, Jim wasn't prepared for the shift in her weight and he fell to the side and to the floor, taking Pam down with him, giggling all the way, and getting wedged in that tight gap between the coffee table and sofa.

"You really need to move this thing," Jim said between kisses.

"Shut up." Kiss. "Not everyone needs as much legroom as you." Kiss. "And I'm moving in with you." Kiss. "Remember?" Kiss. "We'll keep your coffee table and dump this one." Kiss.

"What about the sofa?" Kiss.

"We're keeping mine." Kiss.

"Okay." Kiss.

"Now shut up and kiss me properly, Halpert."

"As you wish."

* * *

Pam:  
We're keeping this quiet for now. No one knows.

Jim:  
Well, Holly noticed the ring as we came up on the elevator this morning, but she promised to keep it a secret for now.

Pam:  
And I've been avoiding Kelly all day. Plus neither of us wants to upset Angela. She's been acting crabbier than ever for some reason.

Jim:  
They're all going to have to find out someday.

Pam:  
Although it's probably for the best if they find out _after_ the wedding.

Jim:  
Why's that?

Pam:  
Three words, Jim: Michael. Gary. Scott.

Jim:  
_(Wincing)  
_Ooh!

* * *

AN: This was a nightmare to set up. I suddenly have a whole new appreciation for The Office writers.


	5. Sunset in the Park

**This was inspired by the way Jim and Pam looked during the first fake proposal, and it is the last one that I've deemed uploadable. You can only write so many of these before they turn into complete crap.**

* * *

Lying on a picnic blanket, enjoying the fading rays of the sun with the man you love by your side.

There were few feelings that beat that in Pam's book.

She and Jim had done this a lot back when they first started dating. They would find a secluded section of the park with a basket full of food and just while away the afternoon; talking, napping, and feeding each other until the sun was just about to disappear below the tree tops.

This year, however, with her being accepted to Pratt for the summer, they had very little chance to see each other, let alone spend a lazy day together. In fact, today was the first time since before she left for New York that they came out like this.

Pam turned her head to gaze at Jim as he slept peacefully beside her. How beautiful he looked like that.

As much as she wanted a house with a terrace, she suddenly felt that a master bedroom with large windows facing the east was just as important-if not more. She wanted to be able to "forget" to close the curtains at night so that she could wake up early and watch Jim's features became clearer and clearer with the rising of the sun.

Or to wake up to the sound of shuffling feet and see their small child standing at the bedroom door in the morning light, sleepily rubbing his or her eyes while toddling towards their bed.

They could always get a terrace built further down the line.

Pam rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow so that she could get a better look at Jim's face. He seemed almost serene with a small smile tugging at his mouth, and although Pam wanted to let him sleep, her hair was caught by a light breeze and blew across his face. The tickling sensation woke him.

She watched him blink himself awake and smiled at his usual slight disorientation before he fully awoke. Then their eyes met, and she smiled even wider.

"Hi."

"Hey."

Jim brought a hand up brush Pam's hair back behind her ear. His fingers brushed against the shell of her ear, causing pleasant shivers to travel down her body, before it came to a rest cupping her cheek. Pam leaned against his hand and turned to give his palm a kiss, but he was much too distracted to notice the sensation.

The way the brilliant oranges and reds of the sun made Pam glow commanded Jim's full attention and caused his heart to pound several beats faster and harder than normal.

What had he done to please the Good Lord so that he would be blessed with the love of this beautiful woman?

This was it.

He was going to pop the question.

Here.

Now.

"Marry me."

"What?" Pam wasn't sure she heard Jim. He had spoken so softly that she wasn't sure she heard him.

Jim spoke again. Louder and clearer.

"Marry me, Pam."

Pam's jaw dropped in surprise. After all those fake proposals and the disappointment of Toby's goodbye party, her mind couldn't completely comprehend that the moment she'd been waiting for had finally arrived.

Jim's hand moved from her cheek and into the pocket of his jeans to pull out a black velvet box and he rolled and propped himself up on one elbow to mirror Pam's position.

She looked down at the box. Everything looked a little clearer all of a sudden, and she could see how the velvet had become worn.

As if Jim had been rubbing it like a talisman for a long time.

Looking back up at Jim, Pam whispered, "How long?"

Jim spoke, mostly succeeding in keeping his voice steady, "Since the week after our first date."

Pam softly snorted in surprise as tears began to cloud her vision. "That's over a year."

"We'd taken so long to get to where we are. I was waiting for the perfect moment."

Overwhelmed at the churning storm of emotions within her, Pam launched herself across the small gap that separated their bodies, knocking Jim onto his back, and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Their lips found each other as Jim's arms came around her as well.

"Yes," she repeated over and over again between passionate kisses.

They lost themselves to their kisses and let their hands roam freely until Jim suddenly came to his senses and gently pushed Pam up and away from him.

"What?" Pam asked, bewildered and breathing heavily.

Jim smiled and waggled the ring box in front of her face. "Don't you want to put your ring on?"

"Oh? Oh!" she realized that they'd forgotten something.

Jim urged her into a sitting position and he sat up himself. He opened the box, and what Pam saw made her gasp and froze her in place. That allowed Jim to pull the beautiful ring out and slip it onto her left hand while she could do nothing but stare wide-eyed while this was all going on.

Pam shifted her gaze from the ring shining snugly on her finger to the even brighter sparkle in Jim's eyes as he watched her take it all in.

Finally, a smile graced Pam's features as she regained herself and leaned in towards Jim for a kiss.

"It's perfect."

* * *

**I'm writing a story about what would come after Jim proposes to Pam all the way up to their wedding and reception entitled "After the Proposal" (clever, no?). I'm calling it a continuation of "Talking Heads" because it's written in the same style. But it works for any one of these.**

**The first chapter's up now if you want to read it.**


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